Scott's Take: Fantastic Four: A Family (Anti)Matter by Stacy McAnulty and Matt Kaufenberg (illustrator)

 

Fantastic Four: A Family (Anti)Matter by Stacy McAnulty, and Matt Kaufenberg (illustrator), is a book geared towards young readers that I read from my local library. Johnny is bored one day and accidentally opens a hole into the negative zone (an antimatter universe). It is up to him and the rest of the Fantastic Four to stop it before it destroys their universe.

 

The book is full of awesome artwork with fun background details and great characterization of each member of the team. This is a fun, if rather short read befitting the age group, that also includes scientific explanations for kids on what happened at the end. This is a light hearted read and was pretty enjoyable even for an older reader like myself.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gn6epB

 

My hardback reading copy came from the Central, aka Downtown, Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025

Scott's Take: Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 1: Whatever Happened To The Fantastic Four?

Fantastic Four by Ryan North Vol. 1: Whatever Happened To The Fantastic Four? is the best Fantastic Four story I have read all year. Something has happened and all the Fantastic Four have separated into groups. They all are off having their own adventures.  

Ben (The Thing) and Alicia (the Thing’s wife) get stuck in a time loop after they arrive in a small town.

Reed (Mister Fantastic) and Sue (The Invisible Woman) also arrive in a different small town and quickly figure out the all the people are Doombots. They think they are human, but they are all robots. Why would Doom build a whole army’s worth of Doombots and just leave them there?

Johnny (The Human Torch) has created a new identity and is attempting to live a low-profile life in New York City. But, Johnny being Johnny, low profile for him is not something he can do. 

Can the Fantastic Four their way back together? Can they get out of their various predicaments to even do that? Of course, they will, but how they go about it is the story. In fact, that is only part of the story, as once the band gets back together, things get even more chaotic.

The incident that broke up the Fantastic Four is very well handled. All the main characters are exceptionally well written and there is plenty of science, exploration, and great artwork. Ryan North is an author with a science background so he is able to write the science in an interesting and informative way.

The art is spectacular. The cover art is done by Alex Ross with the interior done by Iban Coello and Ivan Fiorelli. The interior art is exceptionally good. The art displays the individual powers of the Fantatsic Four really well. This is especially true with Reed, when later in the book, he does some very uncomfortable things to his body to figure things out. The ending is really interesting.

I am really looking forward to the next book, Fantastic Four by Ryan North: Vol 2: Four Stories About Hope.  That read is currently scheduled to be released in early January. I really hope that Marvel gives this creative team a long run that goes on for years. 

 

My reading copy came from the Central or Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2023 

 

Scott's Take: Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross

Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross has the Fantastic Four journey to the Negative Zone after parasites invades their home. This short tale sees them face various threats in the Negative Zone. Featuring colorful art and callbacks to earlier stories, this tale is a fun, but very short tale. All 4 members are featured here and characterized pretty well.

The art is a major highlight of this tale. Some of the art looks like something out of a drug trip but in a good way. There is great art and vivid colors that are not commonly used in comic books.

There is some implied nudity, some horror elements, and minor cussing in, his nice self-contained tale. Hopefully, Alex Ross will do more like this tale, but in a lengthier feature. This is more like a proof-of-concept short story. Still it was an enjoyable read.  

 

My reading copy came by way of the OverDrive/Libby app through the Dallas Public Library System. 

Scott A. Tipple ©2022

WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: Fantastic Four 2015

WELCOME TO HELL ~ by Glenn Walker: Fantastic Four 2015: Fantastic Four ~ As a few of my friends have mentioned, like Andy Burns at Biff Bam Pop! and Skott Stotland at The Nerd Signal , this ...